An unholy alliance of conservative forces, consisting of representatives of the Vatican and States ruled or heavily influenced by Islamic fundamentalist forces and the Religious Right in the USA is intent on weakening the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This landmark UN Convention, which covers a wide range of issues that impact on women, was introduced in 1979 and has since been ratified by almost all countries, including Belize in 1990, leaving Iran, Sudan, Somalia, a few Pacific Island States, the Vatican and the United States as the only holdouts. In ratifying the Convention, countries undertake to bring domestic legislation and practice into alignment with it and report periodically on their progress towards this goal. A new conservative cabal is arguing that the Convention should recognise the different cultures and traditions of individual States and wishes to amend the preamble accordingly.
This seemingly lofty goal masks the true purpose of the amendment, which is to retain restrictive laws and practices within the dissenting States. There are many practices which have long traditional and cultural histories but which are deemed inappropriate for the 21st Century and have been proscribed by national and international laws. Slavery in various forms has roots reaching back into antiquity and is mentioned in many historic documents including the bible but no responsible State today argues that slavery of any kind should be allowed because of traditional or cultural precedent. Child labour was the norm in agrarian and industrial societies until relatively recently and is still prevalent in many countries but modern consensus outlaws this practice and seeks ways to eliminate it. At one time, it was accepted that the spoils of war included the right of victorious armies to rape and pillage their defeated enemies. There was no distinction between civilians and combatants and enemy combatants were either killed or worked to death as slave labour. Yet, almost all States have now signed onto the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which not only distinguishes civilians from combatants but also lays out strict rules for the treatment of prisoners of war. Several recent wartime leaders have been charged with crimes against humanity and brought before International and Regional Courts for breaches of this Convention.
Most states whose inhabitants have had a long tradition and culture of certain practices that are deemed to be inappropriate in the modern era have similarly prohibited them. The list includes headhunting in Borneo, female foot binding in China, the divine right of Kings in Europe and the legal separation of races in the Southern United States.
Hereditary caste systems are found in many different cultures and religions with the most famous being the Caste System in India with its links to Hindu religion. It is a very strict hierarchical structure that recognises four main castes and thousands of sub casts, each of which has its own duties and responsibilities. Children were born into the caste of their parents and could not escape to a different caste. This was very comfortable for the minorities in the upper castes but miserable for the less fortunate majority. The Indian Caste System has a history reaching back at least 3,000 years but this did not prevent the modern Indian State from recognising that it could not officially uphold a system that prevented a vast number of its citizens from reaching their full potential. It therefore outlawed it in 1950 and instituted special affirmative action measures to redress past inequities.
Undoubtedly, if those who benefitted most from these now outlawed practices had been consulted they would have defended them as being traditionally or culturally mandated. Slave owners maintained that slaves could not look after themselves; industries using child labour claimed that families needed the children’s income to survive; commanding generals declared that their men needed the incentive of spoils to go into battle and protectors of the Caste System pointed out that it preserved stability. In all these cases State governments ruled that tradition and culture could not be used as an excuse for inequity or abuse.
Changes in the law have not prevented all instances of slavery, child labour, misbehaviour of victorious armies or all vestiges of the caste system but they are a beginning in dealing with these and other issues. The ratification of CEDAW does not automatically eliminate inequity or abuse of women and girls but it does encourage states to institute and implement relevant legal structures. This in itself becomes a part of a virtuous circle that gradually changes traditions and cultures to be more equitable and inclusive.
It is therefore inexcusable that any group should use tradition and culture as the rationale for retaining outmoded and discriminatory practices of any sort. The unholy alliance of male leaders who benefit from the inequitable treatment of women and girls should be ashamed to use tradition and culture in their arguments to weaken CEDAW and by extension the human rights of half the world.
